


superstition

by KatRoma



Series: of pinwheels and paper daffodils [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Female Uchiha Sasuke, Gen, POV Multiple, Unreliable Narrator, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 16:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3453695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatRoma/pseuds/KatRoma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trust is an interesting thing, and every member of the Konoha Eleven has their own opinion on whether or not Uchiha Sasuke deserves it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	superstition

**Author's Note:**

> The majority of this is just the Konoha Eleven (+Sai) just making assumptions because rumors are called rumors for a reason, and Sasuke's good at bullshitting people. That made this both really fun, and really hard to write.

It’s been a month since Sasuke disappeared, and a week since Naruto and Jiraiya reached the border of the River Country when he hears her story. A genin team of Tani-nin and their jounin sensei are sitting in a ramen shop not too far down at the counter from Naruto, who eats alone while Jiraiya drinks sake in a nearby bar.

The jounin is telling it, like a ghost story, saying, “There’re reports of the Harbinger of Ame in every country of the world. They say she comes to you in the shape of a blind child asking you for help to bring her home, but really she’s luring you away, leading you to die. You’ll know when she drops the act, because her eyes will glow red, and then it starts to rain.”

Every shinobi village has their horror story to pass on to unsuspecting gennin as warnings to always keep to the team, but at least to Naruto’s knowledge, all of Konoha’s are just make believe. As quickly as he can, he finishes the food, ignoring the gennin’s pestering questions, and doesn’t ask for change when he pays. There was so much blood that day that Sasuke can’t be alive, and he knows it. Now she’s nothing but a ghost to him, too, and he doesn’t need to hear a pale imitation of her passed down to a group of newly graduates as the most recent shinobi legend.

When he reaches the exit, he hears someone outside the Tani-nin team call out, “What’re talking about, Naobu-san? Last sighting of her came in from a team of Suna-nin just last week.”

Naruto leaves before he can hear anything else. The last thing he needs is to get his hopes up believing his best friend survived.

 

 

Though Ino loves Sakura more than she thinks the other girl knows, by the time six months pass, she isn’t certain how many more mentions of Uchiha Sasuke she can take. In a terrible, vindictive sort of way, it’s immensely satisfying when Asuma receives his bi-yearly update of the Bingo Book, and finds a new name.

Uchiha Sasuke is alive, a jounin of an enemy village, and A-ranked with a warning for chuunin and gennin to flee on sight. Her bounty is already in the millions. “She’s a good kid,” he says, staring down at the page with sad eyes. “She’ll realize what they’re doing to her eventually and come home.”

As much as she tries, Ino doesn’t understand it, how everyone can have so much faith in this girl. Sakura is obsessed still; Naruto gave a whole speech on how he promised to find their friend; most jounin sensei Ino knows act like Sasuke’s an innocent dove hoodwinked into betraying Konoha. When Ino thinks of her, she pictures the fights of the chuunin exam—Neji, supposedly the best, unconscious and bleeding on the ground, and then the Kazekage,  his sand shield scattered across the arena and blood streaming down the front of his shirt. All the boys used to sputter at the mention of Sasuke’s name, but follow her with their eyes at the same time, and adults call her pretty. Ino always just saw her as somehow _wrong_.

The boys and Asuma are all shocked. Despite the injuries she’d supposedly sustained, Ino’s only surprise is that her bounty is as high as it is. The girl’s thirteen, she thinks. There’s only so much damage she can do.

Maybe, though, it’s enough to convince Sakura her old teammate isn’t so wonderful, and she and Ino can return to their friendship in peace.

 

 

In Kumogakure, Tenten and Neji become chuunin, and she treats herself to a couple hours at the local hot springs, away from boys and fights. She’s barely there ten minutes, though, before someone says, “Hey, you’re from Konoha, right?”

On normal occasions, Tenten would never consider herself a shy girl, but there was nothing easy about that tournament. She’s not in the mood to talk to anyone. “Yeah,” she answers anyway, not wanting to be rude. “Who’s asking?”

That someone is, of course, a girl, and she and her friend introduce themselves as Kaoru and Mina, natives of Kumo. After Tenten introduces herself, too, Mina says, “There’s this bet in our team. Do you know Uchiha Sasuke?”

“Yeah,” Tenten says, surprised. “Everyone knows who Sasuke is.”

Kaoru whoops, hot water splashing in her enthusiasm, as Mina frowns. “I _told_ you any Konoha-nin we asked would know her,” Kaoru says. “Third one now, you can’t deny it. You owe me fifty ryo.”

“Fine, fine,” Mina says. “Later.” Then, to Tenten, she adds, “The bet was that if we asked three Konoha-nin in a row about her, they’d all know at least her name. I thought it was total bullshit. She’s only so talked about here because she killed some Wind Country Daimyo while his pants were down, which is bad because she’s a missing-nin, but still pretty funny. So, was she always completely nuts, or is this a new thing?”

“Um, new thing, actually,” Tenten says, remembering the little girl who clung at Kurenai’s hand during Yuki and Kichiro’s funeral, silent with tears wetting her cheeks. “It’s a long story. We don’t hear about her much in Konoha, though.”

With something close to a laugh, a woman eavesdropping on the conversation says, “Haven’t you ever heard the line about the Harbinger of Amegakure? ‘Fire’s the only thing to ward her away.’ That all started because no Konoha-nin ever had any stories of her. Just because her name is the Harbinger of the Akatsuki now doesn’t mean she’s a different person. And she didn’t catch the Wind Daimyo with his pants down by accident, girl—you only pull of something like that if you fuck him first.”

Nausea builds in Tenten’s throat at the realization passing over the other girls’ faces, because the last time she saw Uchiha Sasuke, she was twelve and looked older, but still just a kid. It was outside the hospital, and she was on Naruto’s back, her abdomen covered in blood. This is the same little girl who defeated Neji in ten minutes, destroying his ego and sense of fate, and continued to apologize for the next forty-eight hours. Tenten doesn’t want to hear about that little girl seducing anyone when she used a fuinjutsu technique at eleven worthy of jealousy even three years later.

“I need to meet with my teammate,” Tenten says, stepping out and grabbing her towel to wrap around herself. “It was nice talking to you all. Mina, don’t forget the money.”

As she leaves, feet making soft sounds against the stones of the pathway, she breathes deep and swears to herself this conversation is going to the grave. Whether Sasuke’s a missing-nin or not, Tenten can respect her skill as a kunoichi enough to afford her that much privacy, at least.

 

 

Shikamaru heard about the Spirit Festival in the Frost Country from Asuma, who heard it from Kakashi, but it’s more lackluster than he described. There’s a somber air settled across the little makeshift village, with the crafts sold all wards, or charms, or paintings of their deities, and the food traditional. After finishing their mission in Shimogakure a few days earlier than usual, he and his team decided to stop by, but he isn’t disappointed the way Ino and Chouji are. Asuma sees it, too; something’s wrong, and this is suddenly in obligation, not celebration.

Whatever caused this happened within the past year. Kakashi’s description wasn’t an old recollection.

They split up to get answers, curious more than investigative, and Shikamaru asks an old woman selling paintings. “Yeah, last solstice,” she says. “See the top of that mountain up there? Where the storm is?” She nods in its direction, and he tells her he does. “That’s Tengoku no Kyuusoku, the entrance to the Spirit World. A few years ago, the storm got worse. A lot worse. Near dawn last year, there was an avalanche. We evacuated everyone fast enough, but half the booths were destroyed, and the profit with them. Any idea who Yuki-onna is, kid?”

“Yeah,” he says. “She haunts the Fire Country, too.”

Some legends are so big they transcend the separate countries’ beliefs and religions. Like many shinobi, Shikamaru doesn’t believe in much, but he has an open mind. With a raised eyebrow and single-shoulder shrug, the old woman says, “She showed up last year. No one’s seen her in a long time, didn’t notice her until it was too late. She interacted us, laughed like a human, and we should’ve realized the veil was thin enough for the spirits to be solid. I’m still wondering how many others were there that night that we passed off as people in common costumes.

“I saw her with my own my eyes. Her skin was like snow, her hair like raven feathers, lips chapped from the cold. Her kimono was as white as her skin. She was with a man no more than a boy who looked at her like he’d be willing to give her the world. Then she walked him right out of our festival grounds to Mugen no Yama, leaving no footprints in the snow. According to Sora-san, that was about midnight. The avalanche came only hours later. One kid even swears up and down he saw her eyes turn red.”

That’s no spirit, Shikamaru knows, despite his willingness to accept the improbable. It’s not unusual for a shinobi to use chakra to walk on top of the snow like water to avoid leaving a trace. Kakashi must’ve noticed if there was a kunoichi around, unless her ability to suppress chakra was so powerful she could make herself nonexistent. There’s another option, though, Shikamaru realizes, and he should’ve noticed it earlier. According to Kakashi, he didn’t stay late, even if he does seem the type, and had been vague about why he left. For him to miss an avalanche, there would need to be a good reason, and Shikamaru easily thinks of a kunoichi who could pass as Yuki-onna.

“Did she have anything unusual on her?” he asks. “A flower? Maybe one made of paper? Or a pinwheel? Could’ve just been the top.”

“Yes,” the woman says. “There was a pinwheel in her hair, if I remember correctly. Is that how she appears in Konoha?”

He lies, and says yes, that is. Though he and Uchiha Sasuke never spoke beyond a name exchange, he’s observant, and watched her fight during their chuunin exam. Her shuriken were made of paper, and didn’t look much like weapons, but the top of pinwheels. That must’ve been for sentimental value, because it wasn’t terribly practical. Sentiment is the sort of thing a girl integrates into her festival clothing one way or another.

For her to explode a mountain, she needed to have been doing something big. This is troublesome, opening a new range of issues, because her new profile’s labelled her as S-ranked. He thanks the woman for her time, and goes to find the others.

Sasuke’s already a ghost story. She doesn’t need to be a legend, too.

 

 

At sixteen, Neji becomes a jounin, and his Bingo Book comes with the rank. It’s thin; people in it don’t die easily, but they still die, and others are added rarely. Profiles are arranged by price. and when thumbing through, he’s shocked to find Uchiha Sasuke’s on the eighth page.

“What is it, Neji?” Tenten says, sliding into the booth next to him. As celebration for his promotion, Gai promised to treat the team to hibachi, but he and Lee have yet to arrive. She, like Neji, tends to come early. “New name?”

Sliding over the book, spine pressed down to reveal the page, he answers, “Look at what she’s credited for. Look how much she’s _worth_.”

He never cared much for the Uchiha girl. His introduction to her was hearing her name called for the first time at graduation, a full year younger than him. As if that weren’t enough of a sting to his pride, another jounin said to Gai only two weeks later that Neji was only arguably the Rookie of the Year now, because “Sasuke-chan” was like nothing she’d ever seen. Then there was Team Ten’s deaths—he never spoke to Kichiro and Yuki outside of when he had to, but they were his classmates regardless. He’d been suspicious at the time learning Sasuke had killed all the enemy herself, which was how she survived when the others didn’t, because he didn’t understand exactly how right that jounin had been. Even at eleven, Sasuke was at least B-ranked.

In an odd way, losing in the preliminary round of the chuunin exams was a good thing, as it forced him to reevaluate his outlook on himself and his life, but he could’ve done without the genjutsu. Reliving the feeling of origami slicing into his back for what felt like a number of hours was both humiliating, and unnecessary. Twisting his perception of time was a deliberate sort of cruelty not found in most children. When the news reached Konoha that she was a member of one of their greatest adversary groups, everyone was so surprised, but he wasn’t. More than once, people called him cold, and it was a reputation he wanted to believe, because he thought it meant he was strong. That single fight showed him he didn’t know a thing, because the memory of waking, and learning he’d only been unconscious for five minutes at most still leaves a chill running down his spine. He’d never heard of genjutsu that could affect time until then.

Now he’s a jounin, though, and “flee on sight” doesn’t apply. He won’t hold back just because she was once a Konoha kunoichi.

He expects Tenten to feel the same way, and even more surprising than the profile’s placement is when she says, “This thirty million bounty doesn’t apply to Konoha, does it?” in the slightly raised tone he’d learned means she’s worried.

“Of course it does,” he says, confused. “She’s a missing-nin. The Isobu, the Kokuo, and the Saiken are all variations of what the Kazekage had sealed inside him. She’s credited with the seizure of three. She’s actively helped the Akatsuki in whatever they’re planning.”

For Sasuke to be credited, she couldn’t have had more than partner assist her in the seizure, either. “She’s credited with the assassination of Orochimaru, too,” Tenten says, “and that’s a good thing. She was born here. Doesn’t that mean we should try to get her back and make her see these guys are just tricking her instead?”

“She’s been gone too long for that,” he says. “Why does this matter to you?”

“It’s nothing,” she says too quickly, then amends her statement. “It’s a kunoichi thing. There aren’t all that many of us, Neji. We’ve got to stick together.”

Sasuke hasn’t belonged to Konoha for a long time. If Tenten wants to believe the girl can be saved, that’s her business, but he understands the truth, and it’s doubtful she’ll stay disappointed for very long when the other girl is finally dead.

 

 

Though it’s been two and a half years now since Gaara crushed the majority of his body, Lee still needs to go for check ups for his spine. After the Akatsuki’s attack, he needs to attend one two weeks early, and is given a room too close too the employee room for his comfort. He doesn’t mean to overhear Sakura and Naruto’s conversation, but even low humming isn’t enough to avoid it.

“Four month’s probation, and full pardon,” he’s saying. The voices are muffled, but they must be near the wall for Lee to hear so clearly. “I really thought for a moment—well, guess it doesn’t matter.”

With a sigh, Sakura sighs, “Four months if she doesn’t die first. It’s...really bad. A hit like that should’ve gone straight through her.”

Lee was half dead on the decimated roof of the Academy with Sakura focused on healing him when Uchiha Sasuke reappeared, materializing from the wreckage like a ghost. He saw it all, as she argued and fought and nearly sacrificed herself for a village everyone thought she gave up on. Though her verdict’s been released to the public, Neji strongly distrusts her, and Tenten is uncertain. Lee watched her step between Naruto and the one who destroyed everything, a sort of action that can only be done out of love, and he can’t doubt her after that.

He knew Kichiro, who was nice even when most of their year was mean. When he died, it was painful in a way not much else has been, but in his last year alive, he always spoke highly of her. Lee doesn’t know much about it, but he remembers the Uchiha Massacre, too, and how Sasuke was stolen away in the night; it only makes sense her mind went sideways after watching her team die. Gai said she would figure it one day, though, and as always, he was right.

There’s a long pause from the other side of the wall. “He was her cousin, Sakura,” Naruto says, voice dropping, but still loud enough to hear. “They were family, and he tried to kill her. Who does that?”

If Gai trusts her, then Lee will too, because someone who’s almost been killed by her family won’t go walking back any time soon.

 

 

Rather quickly, Sai decides he likes the new kunoichi teammate he originally distrusted so vehemently. It’s not every day he meets someone who understands the importance and joys of creation for the sake of more than destruction the way he does.

“Yeah, so you can weaponize it,” she’s saying when he decides to take a break from the first training session she attends, tentatively beginning a conversation about different art forms’ uses. “But first and foremost, you do it because you want to.”

“It’s not purely for the battlefield,” he says with a nod. “It can be very...comforting at periods of relaxation.”

In the Sound Country, Sai had been there with the others, and didn’t understand, questioning afterwards why they didn’t pursue her. Now he thinks he’s beginning to understand. “I can’t draw at all, let alone paint,” Sasuke says in easy admission, “but origami has the same principle. Are you better with people, or animals?”

“Animals,” Sai says. “It’s always difficult to craft a face. Giving the eyes of an animal life is simpler.”

“I work with flowers mostly,” she says, “and origami doesn’t lend itself to people. But I do like birds.”

Sai sips his water. “I’m partial to more mythological creatures myself,” he tells her. “Why birds?”

Almost contemplative, she answers, “I think because they’re easier than cats. My brother had a raven Summon. I have hawks. I think flying is just cool.”

“Do you do that often?”

“Oh, yeah,” she says. “Ever since I got sick, the less physical contact the better, you know? Good thing I rely so much on long distance already.”

Danzo frowns upon illness, and expects them to fight anyway. Though he has yet to comment on the matter, he must greatly disapprove of the preferential treatment she’s receiving as a traitor, but after seeing the amount of blood she can cough up at once, Sai privately disagrees.

 

 

Ever since Orochimaru’s attack on Konoha, gennin have gotten chuunin escorts to foreign villages for every half year exam. This time, it’s in Kirigakure, and Team Seven and Team Eight are assigned the job. Hinata’s more than happy with it—Naruto still looks over her most days, but she’ll always enjoy being around him, and Sakura’s kind. Uchiha Sasuke is a bit of an anomaly, as she’s a jounin, but regardless of what Neji seems to think, she hasn’t done anything suspicious since she returned. Even so, Hinata doesn’t have an informed opinion on the girl, because they haven’t exchanged more than a sentence’s amount with each other since they were children.

Then, in Kiri, they do, because Sasuke might have volunteer to run and get their food from the place downtown, but she can only carry so much at once, and it’s Hinata’s name Kiba pulls from his weapon pouch to be her partner. “It’s properly raining,” Sasuke says when they step outside, the widest smile Hinata’s ever seen on her face. The streets are barrier, lights glowing in almost every window the hotel, and the sky rolled over with grey clouds. “This is perfect. It usually just drizzles here.”

Hinata doesn’t like rain much, because it inevitably means she’ll be cold afterwards, but it’s a bit entertaining, how happy the other girl looks. The reaction is almost childish. “So you’ve been here before?” she asks.

“Yeah, a few times,” Sasuke answers, “and the weather’s always miserable. Drizzle’s the worst—it’s like the _thought_ of rain, but the sky’s been too indecisive to actually give a real downpour. If you’ve ever seen the north of the Wind Country during the wet season, it’s even worse than here.”

As children, Hinata and Sasuke were very much alike, both reserved and quiet. It’s the more traditional attitude taught to girls of their social class, and Hinata wonders what Mikoto-san would think if she could see the reversal her daughter’s gone through. “I haven’t been outside the Fire Country all that often,” Hinata says. “I want to see the Earth Country in winter.”

A pinched look passes over Sasuke’s face. “It’s pretty,” she says, the expression gone as quickly as it came. “Cold, though. Did your parents ever make you memorize a map of the world because ‘women should always know where they’re going when men refuse to ask for directions?’”

Though Hinata was thinking of their childhood, too, the question catches her off guard. Sasuke doesn’t seem the type to reminisce about days long past. “Yes,” Hinata says. “I mixed up the Iron Country and the Frost Country for the longest time. It was a good idea, though. Boys really do refuse to ask for directions.”

“It’s like they have this complete incapability to admit they’re wrong,” Sasuke says, tucking her hair behind her ear. She might have lost the perfect personality, but she retained the looks of an ideal clan heir. In a way, she’s so beautiful it’s a little intimidating. “Kakashi’s been around enough that he doesn’t need any help, but Naruto’s awful about it. What year does the Academy teach road geography?”

“Not until classes merge.”

“Well, that’s one thing our families got right, then.”

Again, she smiles, small but bright, and Hinata realizes she’s never had anyone to talk to her family about with. Even Neji, as her cousin, doesn’t understand what’s it like to be the daughter of the head of one of the two most important clans in the village. They were both treated as something as less, because kunoichi, especially ones that aren’t very good, aren’t as wanted as heirs of the family line. As awkward as Sasuke’s position is, she and Hinata have something in common that they don’t with anyone else.

Regardless of what Neji thinks, Hinata’s going to be nice to the girl from now on, because she understands what it’s like to be in need to friends.

 

 

Konoha is safe, for the most part, and sometimes Shino likes to take walks on his own past dark to clear his head. Though not as good as Kiba at sensing when people are near, Shino’s good enough, the insects under his skin feeling at the chakra they could feed on if given the chance before the person is in eyesight. Avoiding others is desired part of these walks because the waking world is just so busy with activity, and it’s surprising, then, when he comes abruptly across the Uchiha girl arguing with an older man without warning.

“I’ve been back three days,” she’s saying, sharp but quiet. Shino presses back against the wooden fence, hidden by shadows with a good look into the empty lot the two stand in. “Can’t I just have a week? Go on a mission with my team?”

“Your special set of skills are best suited for this,” the man says, and she snatches the file from his hand. Eavesdropping is never good, but Shino doesn’t recognize the person with her, and people have made it past Konoha’s security before; if Sasuke isn’t as trustworthy as everyone thinks, or she’s being forced into something by an outside source, someone should report it to the Hokage. “I thought we agreed this was for the good of the village, Sasuke-san.”

With a scowl clearly visible in the moonlight, Sasuke says, “If that’s what you want to tell yourself at night. Fine. I’ll leave in the morning. Next time at least come to my apartment instead of ambushing me in a deserted lot. Someone might hear us.”

“If that’s your way of telling me someone already has,” the man says, “I’m aware. I’ll see you when you return with your results.”

Shino considers himself a skilled shinobi, but not skilled enough to engage someone like Uchiha Sasuke. He steps away, ready to disappear back into the night before either she or the man can catch him, but when he turns, she’s somehow already there, visible eye turned red and black. “Sorry about this,” she says, miserable, and a sharp pain like the the stab of a kunai’s tip forms behind his eyes.

When it fades, he’s facing the way towards home, and can’t remember why he decided to end his night time stroll so early.

 

 

Chouji used to have a crush on Sasuke before she defected, because she’s really pretty, and he thought she was just shy, even if pretty, shy girls don’t like guys like him. Now that crush’s long since gone away, helped along easily by Ino’s continued dislike of her even years later, but it’s still uncomfortable to alone around her. They’ve been on watch together for the past hour, silent, when she suddenly says, “What’s wrong? Do I have something on my face?”

As much as he’d tried not to, he’d ended up staring at her instead of their surroundings. She’s been back for almost a year, but while she’s spoken to Shikamaru, she and Chouji have barely been in the same room together. “Sorry, no,” he says, voice coming out higher than intended. None of their sleeping teammates move at the sound, the mugginess of the day having sapped everyone’s energy quicker than usual. Summers in the south of the Fire Country are hard to deal with. “I just thought there was a bug in your hair.”

It’s the first excuse he can think of, given the weather, and he isn’t expecting it when she has a girlier reaction than Hinata would, squeaking softly, reaching up and shaking her hair out with her fingers. Sasuke sighs before he has the chance to apologize. “Okay,” she says. “There’s nothing. Don’t scare me like that again.”

With  her hair messy, her left eye is visible, and it doesn’t matter how long it’s been. The sight of it is just as unnerving as it was a year ago. She’s even prettier than last time, but she’s a little scary, too. It’s hard to believe that someone who looks like her is S-ranked. Even without snow, he can almost believe she’s Yuki-onna, like those villagers in the Frost Country mistakenly took her for a couple years back. Yuki-onna, though, he thinks, wouldn’t flinch at the thought of a bug in her hair.

“Sorry,” he says again, and after a moment of silence adds, “You don’t like bugs?”

She shakes her head. “There was this one time when I was eleven, back I was Team Ten,” she says, “and we hid out in this cave to avoid our enemy from catching up with us. Yuki and I fell asleep. We woke up to screaming, and spiders. A lot of them.”

“I don’t like spiders, either,” he tells her, trying not to think of that time when he was five and opened up a bag of banana chips to find one inside. “I make Ino kill them.”

Though Shikamaru trusts her and Ino refuses to, Chouji’s feelings towards her ended at vague discomfort. She’s so pretty, and she’s so powerful, that it’s more surprising than it should be to discover she has her own irrational fears like any normal girl.

 

 

After killing Ame’s leaders and convincing arguably their best kunoichi to defect, Konoha’s had a series of conflicts with the other village’s shinobi. When Kiba comes across three in a clothing shop in the Grass Country, looking to buy a shirt to replace the torn one under his jacket, he’s quick to duck into a dressing room and hope they don’t find him. It won’t do anyone any good to start trouble in a civilian area.

“It’s unfair,” a girl Ame-nin is saying. “When Sasuke killed Orochimaru, it was just credited to her. Why’s killing his freaky sidekick credited to Konoha in general?”

Team Eight’s been on a mission for the past three weeks, and they haven’t heard anything about Sasuke assassinating Kabuto. Why does it matter who it’s credited to? The world’s better off without anyone from Oto living it.

“Because major villages have a fetish for taking credit for everything big,” a boy says. “I still can’t figure out what they could’ve done to her to get her to go back to that.”

“I know,” says the girl, “I seriously though she was going to take over as village head after Lord Pein and the Lady Angel. They had some serious nepotism going on.”

Kiba pauses in his effort to look for an escape route in his very limited space. He talks to Sasuke more often than most of their age group, except her team and maybe Hinata, but it’s never come up in conversation that she was next in line to govern a village. A second girl says, “At least she would’ve known what she doing. Besides, someone who can clear out Oto kind of deserves it. Do you think Konoha’s ever going to stop fucking us over?”

Just over the end of the curtain rod, he makes out the shape of an open window he can reach as long as he’s quiet. As stealthily as possible, he slinks from the dressing room to the other side, reluctantly leaving the shirt behind. He catches sight of the enemy, a blonde girl and boy, and another red head girl shorter than both of them, all pursuing the sales section. The window’s open, like he thought, and low enough that he can wrap his hand around the sill without using chakra to climb up with wall. Akamaru should be waiting outside, ready to leave before these three even knew he was here.

As he pulls himself through the window, he hears the first girl say, “I don’t know. I just wish they stopped stealing and brainwashing someone who belongs to _our_ village.”

Before he can hear the others’ replies, he’s on the ground next to Akamaru. He’s always thought of Sasuke as belonging in Konoha, and Ame being the ones to steal her away; it never occurred to him that they might think that way, too.

  
  


After the attack on Root and the death of Shimura Danzo, Tsunade discovers an arm covered in stolen Sharingan, and Sasuke reveals he had a hand in the Uchiha Massacre. It only takes a matter of a couple of days for enough evidence to be gathered to prove it, and he’s buried separately from the rest of those who honorably died. Their funeral is in just a few days, and Sakura doesn’t know if she can handle watching as so many deaths are merged together into one. Root stole their individual identities already, and even in memoriam, they won’t be given those back.

Now, though, all of the Konoha Twelve, as they’ve been nicknamed, and Sai, are crowded into a hospital wing. Every one of them is injured, but enough other people are, too, that they were given the largest room and told to get along. Though she and Naruto are technically supposed to be in their own beds, they’ve joined Sasuke on hers, and all lean against each other, drained and in need of support. Some things aren’t meant to be dealt with alone.

Almost an hour after they collapse with each other on the narrow cot, Lee suddenly says from the one across from them, “Hey, Sasuke?”

The room falls silent. Sasuke doesn’t move from her place against Naruto’s side. “Yeah?”

“Why didn’t tell anyone?”

Without pause, she answers, “Would any of you have believed me?”

There’s nothing anyone can say to that without confirming it, and to her shame, Sakura realizes that applies to her, too.

The silence continues, and Sasuke doesn’t do a thing to try and break it. 

**Author's Note:**

> Side note, but spell check registered "Kurenai's" as Renaissance.


End file.
